Medical-Legal Triage: The Wrong Expert (Forensic Pathology)

Very frequently, paralegals and attorneys call for pain and suffering evaluations. They request emergency medicine physicians, trauma surgeons, critical care specialists, and pain medicine experts most frequently.

As noted regarding child abuse cases, nearly all medical specialties are concerned with making their patients better—not as concerned with the etiology of their injuries. Forensic pathologists are dealing with the deceased (who, of course, can’t be fixed); their job is to determine cause and manner of death and injury. As part of that, they determine the mechanism of death, the order of injuries including which were fatal and which impact consciousness.

Forensic pathologists are typically best for pain and suffering cases.